Bush at Mt. Vernon: He's No Washington

Published: February 22, 2007

George Washington would have been astonished that President Bush, at Mount Vernon on Presidents' Day, sought to defend his war policy (leaving unclear, you report, whether he meant the combat in Iraq or the broader fight against terror) by declaring that Washington ''believed that the freedoms we secured in our Revolution were not meant for Americans alone.''

Washington would have never approved waging war to impose American values on another society. His closest and most trusted associate, Alexander Hamilton, advised the president that ''every nation has a right to carve out its own happiness in its own way, and it is the height of presumption in another to attempt to fashion its political creed.''

Susan Dunn
Williamstown, Mass., Feb. 20, 2007

The writer is the editor of ''Something That Will Surprise the World: The Essential Writings of the Founding Fathers.''

To the Editor:

In implicitly comparing himself to George Washington, President Bush shows that his understanding of Washington's successes is incomplete.

Unlike the present commander in chief, General Washington was careful not to waste his soldiers' lives on fool's errands; and like other veterans of military campaigns, Washington knew that ''retreat'' is not a disgraceful word, that ''retreat'' can mean survival to fight another day when and where battle is more worthy of a soldier's life.